Experience
by trufflemores
Summary: Written for a prompt. Kurt and Blaine go to an animal park together. Fluff ensues. Kurt/Blaine. COMPLETE.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Glee or any of its characters; Ryan Murphy and Co. hold that honor. I'm simply writing this for fun, not profit.

"Kurt. Kurt, look."

Blaine was currently feeding one of the flamingos, tossing small pellets of food into the exhibit and watching as the bird dolefully snatched them up before they could sink. Without fail, it captured each minuscule reward, turning almost pouty-mouthed to face Blaine as soon as it had eaten its fill, demanding further compensation for its entertainment value. Blaine eagerly obliged, tossing another tiny handful over the short wall and watching as the pellets scattered across the water's surface. Two other flamingos were huddled around its companion, occasionally lifting their heads from underneath pink-feathered chests to bob halfheartedly for scraps.

"Here, you try," Blaine urged, drawing Kurt out of his sun-soaked reverie in order to press a handful of rough pellets into his palm. Kurt wrinkled his nose, closing his fingers around the pellets delicately as Blaine hurried back to the feeding machine for more.

After spending the first few six weeks of summer lounging around Lima and occasionally making the trek up to Six Flags to watch Blaine perform, he hadn't expected to find himself at an animal rescue park on a Saturday in the middle of July. It was stifling: even in Ohio temperatures crept above the mid-eighties, and with no breeze to speak of, Kurt was quickly regretting his decision to layer his shirts twice over. Luckily for him, the park was fairly small, trees dominating the landscape wherever exhibits and pathways intersected. The speckled shade provided little grottoes that he had taken to hiding in as he watched Blaine entertain his aviatic companions. They didn't seem to mind the heat at all, languishing in the shallows.

Glancing down at his own handful, Kurt unceremoniously dumped it over the handrail, watching as the trio squabbled briefly before settling back, all signs of food vanished. Insatiable, the birds lifted their heads and looked at him imploringly, their downturned beaks marking eternal disapproval of his empty hands. Rolling his eyes as Blaine kindly interceded on his behalf, tossing a few pellets into the water and distracting the birds, he grabbed the latter's arm once he was finished and tugged him away from the small pool.

"Where are we going?" he asked eagerly, as though _he _hadn't dragged Kurt out to the veritable wasteland in the first place. It wasn't that he didn't like animals - he loved sedate, domesticated creatures, like well-trained dogs and self-sufficient cats - but he disliked zoos. Watching forlorn, sleepy-eyed creatures wallow in the shallows of their expansive, monstrously expensive exhibits didn't appeal to him. He had pestered Blaine all morning about where he was taking them, knowing full well that northward invariably meant closer to the lake, and lakes meant beaches, and beaches meant half-naked, largely unattractive people wallowing in the shallows of their monstrously expensive artificially sanded beaches. Whether fortuitous or not, Blaine hadn't given him any specific dress instructions, aside from 'dress comfortably,' which inevitably led to him feeling stifled underneath his usual layers. At least it wasn't the beach, he consoled himself, as he half-led, half-dragged his boyfriend past a pair of matching exhibits, sleepy looking monkeys inhabiting both.

The sooner they toured the tiny, grimy zoo (animal park, he mentally amended, recalling the speech given by the bright-eyed employee behind the admissions' counter), the sooner Kurt could drive them home and shower before cuddling up to his boyfriend for a nice, relaxing evening. Kurt felt like he had already walked through a wildlife smog simply entering the grounds, coated in a light sheet of dust and sweat by the time they'd made it to the flamingos.

A sudden jerk on his hand pulled him out of his morose reverie, Blaine's abrupt change of track startling him off course. He stumbled after him, blinking in surprise as dozens of imploring eyes stared up at him, small black noses pointed jauntily in the air. He stared back, wondering why Blaine had brought them in front of the deer cage, of all places.

"Aren't they cute?" Blaine cooed, reaching down to try and pet one as it accepted a carrot from his hand. Kurt made a slight noise of disagreement as he watched the watchers, uncertain who would feel more threatened had the fence links not existed between them. As soon as Blaine tugged another carrot from his bag, however, the mob broke, dozens of deer scurrying over to take part in the feeding. Kurt inched back from the fence as they clamored, shaking his head as he looked down at Blaine. He was crouched close to the opening slotted low on the fence so he could feed them, laughing as the deer nibbled at his bounty. When at last he'd used up the last of his carrot bag, he reached out and quickly patted the neck of the closest deer before Kurt tugged him out of reach of another's antlers. "They're adorable," he said, cheerfully ignoring the way antlers jostled near his face as the deer fed.

"Adorable," Kurt repeated flatly, staring at Blaine in disbelief. "It tried to _skewer _you."

"It did not," Blaine insisted, pushing himself to his feet and brushing off his pants as he watched the deer adoringly for a moment longer before tugging Kurt along. "Can you at least _try _to have fun?" he added softly, surprising Kurt with the sincerity of the question. Kurt opened his mouth to tell him that if he had wanted someone to come to a zoo - _animal park _- and actually enjoy it, he should have asked Mike or Puck or even Finn. Finn would happily spend dozens of quarters on flamingo feed, more on the carrot bags sold at the front desk to feed to the rest of the animals. He hadn't, though, for the same reason that Finn hadn't bribed Kurt to go get a manicure with Rachel in his stead.

This was _their _summer. The last carefree one they had, really. Next year would be all about senior year and colleges and moving on, but they still had a full summer of relaxation to look forward to. It hadn't occurred to Kurt that Blaine's enjoyment of the experience might depend somewhat on his own.

"We don't have to stay," Blaine offered, stopping in the middle of the path to look at Kurt fully. There weren't many other visitors around, a family of three gathered around the otter exhibit at the end of the path their sole companions.

In a weird, doubtless heat-induced way, it was nice. The paths set before them branched off, allowing them the freedom to choose at their leisure which route they wished to take. Vendors and gift shops were absent throughout the park itself, only the quiet company of the animals themselves providing a breach from the calm. Kurt looked around, actually letting himself survey the grounds without simply turning his nose up at them, and reached down to give Blaine's hand one firm squeeze.

"We can stay," was all he said, pulling him down the middle path.

As Blaine stood in the midst of a herd of tiny goats with two bags of carrots and a delighted grin on his face as they half-clambered up his legs to try and reach, Kurt couldn't help but think that, though undyingly romantic it was not, there was something incredibly sweet about it all. He liked watching Blaine interact with the animals, seating himself fearlessly on one of the rocks in the enclosure and letting the goats squirm over and around his legs, offering them nibbles of carrot to keep their interest. Kurt stood near one wall of the exhibit and watched, feeding a pair of alpacas between quick pictures taken on his iPhone. As soon as the more audacious of the duo tried to eat it, he put it in his pocket and simply watched, leaning against the railing and smiling at Blaine.

"You want to try?" Blaine asked, walking over to him at last and gently nudging a kid down as he offered his half-finished bag to Kurt.

Kurt eyed the bag doubtfully for several moments, at last stepping around through the turnstile separating exhibit from pathway and accepting the bag.

Blaine somehow sneaked his iPhone out of his pocket while he was feeding the tiny herd - he didn't dare sit down, letting out an indignant squeak every time they put their hooves on his legs - taking pictures to his heart's content. At last, the bag was empty and Kurt's dark-wash jeans sufficiently dirtied to ensure proof that he had participated.

Even though Finn's shameless staring, Carole's amused smile, and Burt's raised eyebrow when he got home were more than enough reason to threaten blackmail if they ever mentioned such degradation again, Kurt couldn't say that he regretted the experience. It was worth it, for the small, satisfied smile that Blaine had as he held Kurt in his arm, cheek nestled against the top of his head.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Hello, everyone! A little story to welcome the new year. I'll be updating _Leader _and _In Want of Magic _soon.

**Review? **


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